Reflux Precipitation Polymerization: A New Platform for the Preparation of Uniform Polymeric Nanogels for Biomedical Applications

Macromol Biosci. 2018 Aug;18(8):e1800077. doi: 10.1002/mabi.201800077. Epub 2018 Jun 19.

Abstract

Reflux precipitation polymerization (RPP) represents an effective approach that enables to prepare various types of polymeric nanogels with precise control over the morphology and structure. Owing to facile loading or modification by a variety of functional moieties, rationally designed nanogels pose the possibility to attain a platform for tailoring functional properties that could be widely used for various biomedical applications, such as multifunctional drug delivery, enrichment of functional peptides, separation of specific proteins, as well as detection of circulating tumor cells. This feature article highlights RPP as a promising polymerization strategy that provides access to facile generation of modular nanostructures or multifunctional properties in a diverse range of biomedical applications, proving that RPP has great potential to become one of the most attractive polymerization techniques in polymer chemistry.

Keywords: cell detection; drug delivery; nanogels; proteins and peptide enrichment; reflux precipitation polymerization.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry*
  • Drug Delivery Systems
  • Gels / chemistry*
  • Nanostructures / chemistry*
  • Polymerization*

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Gels